


love is a spell

by Nara_stories



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Blood, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Multi, Witch Curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24577147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nara_stories/pseuds/Nara_stories
Summary: Jamie and John are hunting together when they encounter a witch who curses John to make them both suffer.Meant to fill my square 'Under a Spell' in the Outlander Bingo 2020.
Relationships: Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser/Lord John Grey
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49
Collections: Outlander Bingo Challenge





	love is a spell

James Fraser has been living in North Carolina for over a year now and hadn’t encountered any witches before this day. Of course, it would be Lord John William Bloody Grey who managed to stumble into one not long after he came to stay with them. If there was only one witch on the whole continent, that man would surely find them and piss them off, entirely without meaning to.

“Christ, John, must ye always get yerself into trouble the moment I turn away?” Jamie muttered as he hauled his friend up from the ground. He hoped it concealed the honest worry he was feeling.

“I thought she was going to hurt you,” John croaked out, clinging to his arm with icy fingers. That wasna good… wasna good at all.

“And now it’s ye who’s hurt,” Jamie snapped. He put an arm around John, supporting his weight and started dragging him home. The man was shivering, even though it was early summer and wasn’t cold at all.

They were out together hunting, as they liked to do. Just the two of them with the open sky and the endless slopes of mountains, wandering through fields and thick forests full of wildlife. Jamie always treasured these occasions. John was a good hunting companion. Probably the best.

He was an excellent shot, confident at making camp and moving on difficult terrain. He also didn’t force to fill the silence between them. Sometimes they didn’t talk for hours, just let the sounds of birds and rivers envelop them, each with his own thoughts, but yet somehow still together, communicating wordlessly. 

Other times they spoke well into the night, each word simple and honest. They had very little secrets left between them, and the number always got less and less after a few days together in the wilderness.

Out here there was plenty of space for both of them. Jamie, who was confined so many times in his life felt himself physically and mentally stretch into that space. Under the open sky, he never felt trapped or suffocated by the intensity of John’s attention on him. He didn’t feel like prodding at the man just to see if he was hiding something meant to hurt him. Even though John knew better at this point than to bring it up, sometimes Jamie thought he would let his friend talk freely about his feelings and it could just softly spread out around them like a glimmering spiderweb instead of wrapping tightly around him like a noose and shackles.

He also liked to see John turn into a hunter. His focus sharpening into something deadly. He liked seeing him with blood on his hands, while skinning their catch, a rabbit for dinner because it was as if he unwrapped himself from all those layers of diplomatic elegance, of money and manners he so often used to hide behind. He was there with him, raw in the moment and it made Jamie lower his guards as well.

They were following a deer, and it was John who pulled the trigger on it, right before Jamie noticed that the animal was already wounded. Just after the deadly shot echoed through the forest a woman stumbled out from the trees, bloody knife in hand, absolutely furious.

He should have known in that instant that she was a witch since none of them heard her approach. As it turned out they had just shot her chosen animal sacrifice that managed to escape before whatever dark magic she wanted to do with it.

She had looked at them in a way that suggested a man would do for her purposes just as well.

Jamie was ready to fight, but John – the wee idiot – had stepped out in front of him, trying to protect him with that instinct nothing could erase over the years.

The witch’s gaze snapped to him, then back to Jamie and an ugly smile spread across her face. She spat a few words, making a complicated hand gesture. Then quickly stepped closer. For a frightening second, Jamie thought she was going to stab John with the knife and grabbed his arm to yank him back. But the woman reached out with her other hand and smeared the blood of the deer over John’s chest.

John collapsed immediately. Jamie crouched down next to him, but his joy at seeing John open his eyes was short-lived.

“I curse you, John William Grey. May your love unreturned suck all the warmth out of your body. May you freeze to death in the summer heat unless someone gives you the warmth of their heart in return for your own.“

Before Jamie could decide whether to cut out her tongue or squeeze her neck until she took back those words, she was gone.

The silence hung heavily between them as they made through the forest. The witch’s words echoed in Jamie’s head. John didn’t say it, but Jamie knew he would have chosen this. To get hurt in place of Jamie, even if he got nothing in return. Jamie wanted to hit something.

It took them half a day to arrive at the big house. By that time John was shivering uncontrollably even with Jamie’s coat wrapped around his shoulders. Jamie pushed the door open and raised his voice.

“Claire!” His tone was enough to make her rush into the room to meet them.

Claire’s eyes scanned them for injuries and she gasped when she saw the blood on John’s shirt.

“It’s not mine,” John scrambled to say as Claire reached out towards him. She touched his chest anyway, expert hands gently probing skin, bone and muscle to see if it was whole or broken.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, Jamie, he’s freezing cold,” she exclaimed and Jamie thought that his name will soon become part of her regular curse words if he kept upsetting her so much.

“What happened? Has he fallen into the creek?” Jamie saw Claire’s mind whirling behind her clever eyes, trying to find the cause. “But no, he’s not wet.”

Jamie caught John’s gaze. It wasn’t really a question whether he would tell Claire, but he waited for his tiny nod anyway.

“He’s been cursed. By a witch.”

Claire looked at him incredulously.  
“A witch?”

Jamie huffed.  
“Aye, so if ye havna told me the whole truth, Sassenach, all those years ago, and ye do happen to be a witch, it might be time to say so,” Jamie said in a futile attempt to lighten the mood.  
Claire shot him a fond, but exasperated glance. She seemed to have come to a conclusion.  
“He has no visible injuries, but he is very cold. Jamie, help get him into bed.”

There was only one bed in the house, but Jamie didn’t argue. John, of course, noticed this.  
“So, I’m really dying then,” he mumbled with chattering teeth. Jamie squeezed his arm, but his throat suddenly felt so tight he couldn’t force any words out.

He helped John into their bed and he and Claire piled all the quilts on him. Claire started to boil some tea, while Jamie tucked a pillow under John’s head. After he made sure John was comfortable, Jamie looked around the room and ended up spreading the sheepskin rug that normally lay before the fireplace over Johns's legs as well.

John reached out and touched his forearm.  
“Don’t fuss over me like that,” he said with a weak smile. “You’re scaring me.”

Jamie swallowed hard. He was scared too.

Claire finished the tea and handed it to John, who curled his hands over the warm mug with a sigh. Then Claire stepped up to Jamie and steered him out of the room, gently closing the door behind them.

“Tell me everything,” she said quietly and Jamie did.

When he was finished, he ran a hand over his face and let some of his desperation show that he had tried to hide so far.

“She knew. She just looked at John and knew.” Jamie let out a shaky sigh. Claire, who had been gently stroking his arm while he talked stepped closer and Jamie tucked his face into her neck, being comforted by the familiar herbal scent of her skin and unruly curls.  
But for the first time, he felt guilty for it. Their love found a match in each other. But John had no match because he gave his heart to him and now he would be paying for it.

“It’s my fault,” he concluded, voice hoarse from the emotions that were choking him. Claire pulled back and took his face between her hands, but Jamie continued before she could protest. “Somehow she saw how much it would hurt me too. To have him die because I couldna return his love.”

Claire stared at him.  
“But you do.”  
Jamie furrowed his brows, confused.  
“What?”  
Claire spoke the words slowly as if talking to someone particularly dense.  
“You love him, Jamie.”  
Jamie felt heat rise in him at the mere suggestion.  
“I love _ye_ , Sassenach, how can ye think…” he started to violently protest, but Claire firmed up his touch on his face and cut him off.

“That’s not mutually exclusive, you pigheaded Scot.” Jamie was stunned into silence. Her wife had the most outlandish notions sometimes. He thought he got used to it over the years, but Claire always managed to surprise him. That a man could love his wife and still feel for a man the way John Grey felt for him…? That was impossible.

Claire could clearly read his thoughts and for a moment he thought she would slap him.  
“I can’t believe I need to spell it out for you, Jamie.” She shook her head. “I know you. Maybe no one else sees it, but I do. You are always the happiest when he’s here with us.”

He couldn’t argue with that. He _was_ the happiest when both Claire and John was with him. At first, he felt guilty for it. Then he was afraid it would breed hostility between Claire and John.

But it wasn’t what happened.

John spent just as much time with Claire as he did with him. Another man might have thought it beyond himself to do things that were often considered women’s business. Not John. He had quietly helped out with things around the house, and Jamie often caught them talking while doing little chores. After a while Claire let him help her making medicine and started telling him about her various herbs while they were out in the garden or went foraging together. That’s when Jamie knew she trusted him.

Jamie had no name for the feeling when he saw John being so kind and tender with his wife. Another man in his place would have hated Claire just out of spite. But he wasn’t another man. He was John. No one was quite like him.

Claire took her hand away.  
“And you would rather let him die, than to admit that you love him?”  
Jamie was alarmed to see that tears sprang up in her eyes. Jamie watched Claire wipe at her eyes, and another realization hit him.  
“Ye care for him too.”

“Of course I care for him,” Claire snapped. “He’s a good man. He’s also the one person in this world who completely understands how I feel for you because he feels the same.”

The words cut Jamie deeply, with surgical precision. Trust Claire to cut through all those layers of excuses and ideas that he used to protect himself.

It hurt. Jamie knew that sometimes you had to cut a would more open in order to heal it, but it still hurt, so naturally, he resisted it.  
“If… what I’m feeling... would be enough why isna he better already?”

Something softened on Claire’s face.  
“Well, I’m not a witch, Jamie, but I know that what you think has a profound effect on your physical health. And I don’t think John believes you love him.”

No. Why would he? Jamie himself didn’t want to admit it until a moment ago.

“So,” he started slowly, “you think I need to make him believe?”

It sounded like madness. But there was that small glimmer of hope that overpowered any discomfort he might have felt at the idea. Claire was right. His pride shouldn’t keep him from trying everything that might save John.  
Claire nodded.

Jamie took a big breath in and they shared a glance that said more than a thousand words could have.

When they went back to the room, John smiled shakily.  
“What’s the verdict? How much do I have left?” he asked trying to sound light-hearted.  
Jamie’s chest felt tight. His dear, brave friend.

“If it’s up to me, then a lot more,” Jamie said. He shook off his shirt with a fluid motion that made John gape at him. 

Claire stepped up to the bed and took the empty mug out of his hand. Jamie walked closer too and sat down on the bed. Then, after a moment hesitation folded the covers back and slid beneath them. It was almost uncomfortably warm, but John’s body radiated an unnatural coldness.

John looked up at Claire, wide-eyed.  
“I must be delirious.”

Claire reached out and touched his hair gently. “No, you’re not.” She turned away to put the mug down, and she also shed her shawl from her shoulders, which left her in her nightshirt.

Jamie took a deep breath and spoke up.  
“That witch based her curse on the assumption that yer love is unreturned, aye?” He forced himself to turn and look John in the eye. “And that simply isna true, John.”

John stared at him, unblinking, something like fear on his pale face,  
“Jamie, please don’t lie to me just because you think it will make dying easier for me.”

Jamie huffed out a breath.  
“I’m not lying,” he said slowly. “And ye’re not going to die,” he added fiercely. He cupped John’s face with his hand. His skin felt icy, his lips had a purplish tint and Jamie desperately wanted to share his own warmth with him.

He bent forward and covered his cold lips with his own. John gasped, clung to him, and melted into the kiss. Jamie kissed him deeply as if he could breathe back some fire into him. When he pulled back he was still searching for the right words. There were only so many ways to say this.

“Ye’re not going to die because I… I love ye, John,” he said quietly. “I’m not sure if it’s enough, but I do.”

He felt the bed dip, and Claire, who was just watching them until now got into bed as well on John’s other side.

“And if it’s not, I believe I can supply the rest,” she added. John turned towards her and she smiled at him.

When Claire bent down and kissed him on the mouth, John’s eyes went as big as two saucers, but there was no hesitation before he kissed back. Jamie could have laughed out loud.

He found no jealousy in his heart, but after a while, he cupped John’s chin, turned his face towards him, and replaced Claire’s lips with his own, simply, because he wanted to kiss him again.

They kept that up, kissing John in turn, chasing each other’s familiar taste, until John’s lips became red and swollen, his cheeks flushed pink, and his hands that were tangled with theirs warmed up.

John stopped shivering and fell asleep with his head on Jamie’s shoulder, and Claire followed shortly after. But Jamie stayed awake listening to their breathing, and only succumbed to sleep when he managed to convince himself that their love was indeed strong enough to dispel a curse.


End file.
